Breaking Apart
by Rayeth
Summary: Written for Zoo-sama's fic contest. One of these days, Yami will have to leave Yuugi and it might not be by choice. Once Yuugi doesn't need him anymore, he has to leave, regardless of whether he needs Yuugi or not... R&R i've been told it's confusing...


Disclaimer: Isn't mine, will never be mine.

Note: A shinkansen is a bullet train, the fastest goes at around 400mph, and they come in really cool colors. No, I've never actually heard one go by, but I'm sure it's pretty loud. Mou Hitori no Boku translates to "the other me." I honestly don't know how or why. 

A procession seemed to move forward slowly, completely oblivious to Yuugi's presence. They marched to what sounded like a heavy drone of voices. Long gray velvety cloaks of the marchers swirled and gleamed in an oddly metallic fashion. Voluminous hoods covered their heads. Wisps of deep violets and sad grays misted over them, obscuring their movements. In their midst, a looming obsidian cross rose. The blackness seemed to soak in any existing light and made the darkness all the darker. The darkness shrouded the top of the cross, covering a limp figure from view. 

Suddenly, it became silent. Deadly silent. Yuugi couldn't hear anything save the pounding of his own heart. It was loud, decibels far outnumbering that of the local Shinkansen. It pounded wildly, each beat louder than the last until it became an all-consuming beat. The march continued, each movement of the marchers in sync with the beat. The movements became faster, and faster with his heart beat in an erratic rhythm, until it all became an indistinguishable blur. Yuugi couldn't see anything but the odd silvery cloaks swishing uniformly, gaining more and more speed. He couldn't hear anything but the beat, that quickening, pulsing beat. He felt like throwing up. His heart, his pulse, his mind, his very being seemed to quicken, to follow that all consuming beat. 

It suddenly stopped. The marchers had stopped moving. There was no beat, there was no sound. Everyone stood as though time had stopped. They stood unmoving, still as statues. They seemed to be waiting for something. It was as if everything, living, dead, and in between were holding their breaths. All together, they raised their heads as one and looked up. They stared at the very top of the obsidian cross. 

Yuugi watched. His eyes traveled up to the top. He couldn't help but feel a foreboding sense of dread. The marchers had completely ignored his presence. 

__

They can't see me. 

The scene changed as suddenly as the beat had stopped. Ahead, the obsidian cross loomed over him. Yuugi squinted, trying to get a look at the figure. He gasped. It was Yami, bound by tight silver wire biting into his flesh. He hung limp, droplets of blood dripping down the stained red wires. The once tanned ivory flesh was now a mottled darkened purple, each shade clearly portraying pain. Yami lifted his face slowly. He looked beaten, the expression on his face seemed recluse. The eyes opened slowly and stared unseeingly at Yuugi. The color oddly matched with the blood on his jacket. The eyes seemed to beg for it all to end. 

__

Reduced to this... 

"Mou Hitori no Boku," Yuugi yelled, tears springing to his eyes. They were, strangely enough, alone. The marchers had disappeared to air. At the sound of his soft tenor voice, recognition dawned in those crimson eyes. 

__

...like dried blood... 

"Yuugi?" Yami asked, his voice croaking from disuse. Yuugi ran over to him, his arms barely reached Yami. And the blood dripped down from the once silver wires. They slowly, almost tauntingly slid down, drop by drop. The leather-like material of Yami's clothing didn't absorb the blood so they slid down, down the flesh, down the wires, down the obsidian cross. Each drop became little points of light, growing in brightness until they filled the area in garish red light. The light flooded the labyrinthine passage in a sea of dying red. 

Yuugi stood still in shock. The many stairs and doors were crumbling on each other. The golden walls fell to gray dust and scattered. He stood in the center of chaos and destruction. With the breaking of each door, emotions and memories were released. They flowed together, almost like water, mixing with each other. Rage, hate, grief, loss, lust, pride, defeat, victory all mixed together in a raging sea of chaotic black. Thoughts, words, memories, happiness, everything flowed together, each fighting for dominance. With the destruction of each door, wall, stair, Yami's eyes seemed all the older, yet vacant. Everything fell piece by piece, slowly destroying the once complex, and glorious labyrinth. The black cross towered over it all, almost proudly among mass destruction. 

As suddenly as before, a fiery arrow of light shot up, changing the red and gold light to burning fire. And in the blinding light, Black Magician burned. 

Yuugi covered his eyes with his arm as the flames rose in brightness and intensity. The blinding light suddenly died out and it was dark once again. 

Yuugi cautiously opened his eyes and let them get accustomed to the darkness. This time, the darkness wasn't thick, tangible, and hot, full of presence; it was empty. Yuugi's body felt numb and cold with the sheer emptiness of the void. His limbs felt leaden. The crisp, clearness of the darkness left him only too well aware of the emptiness unlike before with the marchers where the heavy weight of it all had blurred his senses. 

It was scary. 

He blinked a few times, looking around. Ahead, he saw a golden door with the eye of Horus relief. He raced to the door. It just seemed to move farther and farther away, just out of his reach. Yuugi ran faster, and faster, and finally, with an extra burst of speed, he pushed through the door. Once he got to the other side, he slammed the door shut. Panting, he leaned his back against the door and sat down. Yuugi was in a long corridor, the corridor between the two soul-rooms in Yuugi's mind. Yuugi looked at his own soul-room directly across from him. 

__

...if this is my...then the other me.... 

Yuugi's gaze moved from the slightly ajar door of his soul room to the floor of the corridor itself. 

__

A crack?? 

Yuugi noticed a fine, deep line between the two rooms running lengthwise along the corridor. Yuugi crouched, running a finger along the crack. His brows furrowed for a few moments before his eyes widened in horror. 

__

The pieces of a puzzle hold together but...two smooth edges can't.... 

Yuugi turned around and wrenched the knob of the door but it didn't turn. 

Full panic set in. 

"Other me," Yuugi screamed, his voice echoing eerily along the damp walls of the corridor. "Open the door!! Open the door!!" 

His cries fell on deaf ears. Yuugi pounded the door over and over and over again until new blood mixed with the drying blood already staining his hands. 

Finally, Yuugi collapsed to his knees, his bloody hands sliding down the rough gold. The great golden door seemed to absorb the blood, leaving it as golden as ever. 

But he didn't stop pounding. 

He kept weakly beating the door, pushing it, hoping to get through. He fell to his knees in defeat and put his back against the door once again. His frantic eyes moved to his soul-room, but it seemed different now. There were no longer any toys there, nor were there cheerful colors as before. It seemed lonely, and oddly empty. He looked down at the crack, his eyes filling up with tears in realization. The crack was not a mere crack any longer, and the edges had separated. 

An animalistic scream like that of a wounded animal pierced through the gathering darkness. 

Yuugi woke with a start. He blinked his heliotrope eyes a couple of times. Where was he? His heart was thundering in his chest. It was too dark to see anything, just heavy silent darkness. He groped around blindly before he realized he was sitting in a bed, his bed. Yuugi clutched his blankets for a few seconds, and calmed his breathing. It was just a dream. 

__

But it had seemed so real. 

He clutched the Sennen puzzle for a couple of minutes, slowing down his breathing. 

__

It was just a nightmare. Nothing more than imagination. 

But his hands were slick with blood. 

Second Note: A lot of this probably didn't make much sense but then again a part of Yuugi's dream was in fact a dream _I_ had, and if asked, I couldn't explain it either. And yes, in that dream, Yuugi was a spectator watching Yami all tied up and with weird marching cloaked people.... 


End file.
